Universal peripheral connector

ABSTRACT

A universal connector apparatus for a mobile device and in communication with the mobile device, the apparatus comprising: at least one universal serial bus (USB) connector providing at least one connection; at least one USB host controller configured to control the at least one USB connection; a microprocessor configured to control the at least one USB host controller, the microprocessor having an operating system; a USB device control interface on the mobile device configured to communicate and control the universal connector apparatus; and a USB driver configured to operate within the operating system to enable the mobile device to connect to one or more peripherals via the at least one USB connector.

FIELD OF THE APPLICATION

The present application relates generally to the field of wirelesscommunication devices and, in particular, to a connector to connect thewireless communication device with a peripheral device.

BACKGROUND

Many mobile data devices, such as wireless data devices, personaldigital assistants, smart phones and cellular telephones, include auniversal serial bus (USB) interface. The USB is used for a variety offunctions but is primarily designed to connect the mobile data devicewith a computer.

The connection of a mobile data device to a computer allows the mobiledata device to be a client and the computer to be the USB server.However, in many cases, it would be also desirable to connect the datadevice to a USB peripheral. Such peripherals include, for example, inputdevices, printers, cameras, mass storage devices, projectors, as well asmany other peripherals known to those skilled in the art.

The problem with connecting a mobile data device to a peripheral is thatthe mobile data device would have to become the USB server. In currentmobile data devices, the device is configured to connect to a USB hostand not to a USB peripheral device. There is therefore a need to enableconnectivity between a mobile data device and a USB peripheral deviceutilizing an existing USB port on the mobile data device.

Attempts have been made to solve the above problem. New data devices mayinclude a technology labelled as USB On-The-Go. The problem with USBOn-The-Go is that it requires at least USB 2.0 in order to work. Manyexisting mobile data devices do not include this version of USB portsand therefore a solution is required that will work with all mobile datadevices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present apparatus and method will be better understood withreference to the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary universal peripheral connectorconnected to a mobile data device and to various peripherals;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of a method of connecting a universal peripheralconnector to a peripheral device and to a mobile data device;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary mobile data device that can beused with the present apparatus and method;

FIG. 4A is an exemplary USB sled that a mobile data device can be placedinto; FIG. 4B is a rear view of the USB sled of FIG. 4A;

FIG. 4C is an alternative embodiment using a USB dongle or USBperipheral device to connect the handheld device to the peripheral;

FIG. 5 is a high level diagram showing the USB housing connected to themobile data device and the peripheral device; and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a further embodiment of a universalperipheral device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present method and apparatus provide a USB peripheral connector toconnect the mobile data device to a variety of peripherals. A universalperipheral connector apparatus is provided which includes at least oneUSB port, a controller to control the one USB port, a microprocessorconfigured to control the USB host controller, a USB driver for a mobiledata device, wherein the USB driver is configured to operate within theoperating system operating on the microcontroller and further isconfigured to enable the mobile data device to connect to one or moreperipherals using the universal peripheral connector apparatus.

The universal peripheral connector apparatus can include a number ofknown standard interfaces to support peripherals. Besides USB this couldinclude for example a VGA port to enable a mobile data device to displaythe user interface of the data device on the VGA screen or to connect toa peripheral such as an overhead projector for making presentations.

The universal peripheral connector can be a stand-alone deviceconnecting to the mobile data device through a standard USB cable orcould include a cradle to hold the mobile data device. The cradle couldhave a USB connector built in so that when a user inserts the mobiledata device into the cradle, the cradle is connected to the mobile datadevice through the USB port. Peripherals can then be connected to thecradle using other ports on the cradle, such as a USB or a VGA port. Theabove is not meant to be limited to a cradle or on the stand-alone USBperipheral connector, and one skilled in the art would realize thatother type supports could be used.

The universal peripheral connector could be used by connecting it to amobile data device. The universal peripheral connector could then detectthe presence of the USB peripheral at the USB port. Further, if aperipheral is detected, the universal peripheral connector can determinewhether or not a driver exists for that peripheral. If a driver does notexist, then a driver can be obtained. Because the mobile data devicecommunicates over the air, if the driver is not stored in either theuniversal peripheral connector or the mobile data device, then it can beobtained over the air from a driver repository that the mobile datadevice knows about. Once the driver is obtained and loaded, it can beused to drive the peripheral device.

The present application therefore provides a universal connectorapparatus for a mobile device and in communication with the mobiledevice, the apparatus comprising: at least one universal serial bus(USB) connector providing at least one connection; at least one USB hostcontroller configured to control the at least one USB connection; amicroprocessor configured to control said at least one USB hostcontroller, the microprocessor having an operating system; a USB devicecontrol interface on said mobile device configured to communicate andcontrol said universal connector apparatus; and a USB driver configuredto operate within said operating system to enable said mobile device toconnect to one or more peripherals via said at least one USB connector.

The present application further provides a method of connecting andfacilitating control of a universal serial bus (USB) peripheral from amobile device using a universal connector apparatus, the methodcomprising the steps of: detecting at the connector apparatus theconnection or presence of a USB peripheral; if the peripheral is themobile device configuring the mobile device for remote control of theuniversal connector; and if the peripheral device is not the mobiledevice, configuring the mobile device if connected for remote control ofthe universal connector; locating a driver for said peripheral; anddriving said peripheral using said driver to provide a functionalfeature at the mobile device.

Reference is now made to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a universalperipheral connector 10 for connecting a mobile data device 15 with aUSB peripheral 20 or another peripheral 25. Since many mobile devices 15do not include a USB port that can be a host USB port, universalperipheral connector 10 is required in order to connect the mobile datadevice 15 to a peripheral 20. Universal peripheral connector 10 isconnected to mobile data device through a USB connection 30. As will beappreciated by those skilled in the art, USB connection 30 can either bea USB cable, a connector connecting directly to mobile data device 15,or other known connection.

Universal peripheral connector 10 includes a mobile data device USBdriver 32 for use in driving USB connection 30 to communicate withmobile data device 15.

Universal peripheral connector 10 further includes a USB host controller34 in order to control the USB port or USB ports on the universalperipheral connector. Since the universal peripheral connector canconnect to USB peripherals or other peripherals, at least one USB portis included on universal peripheral controller, but multiple ports couldexist.

A microprocessor 36 on universal peripheral connector 10 is configuredto control the USB host controller and an operating system 38 is adaptedto execute on the microprocessor.

Universal peripheral connector 10 may further include a number of activedrivers 40 which are the commonly used drivers to drive USB and otherperipherals.

Mobile data device 15, an exemplary version of which is described inmore detail below, includes a UPC USB control software module 50 that isused to control the universal peripheral connector. Thus, even thoughthe mobile data device is the client device for the universal peripheralconnector's host USB port, control of the universal peripheral connectorlies within the mobile data device.

Mobile data device 15 further includes cached drivers 52 which arestored to provide universal peripheral connector 10 with driversnecessary to drive various USB and other peripherals. Cached drivers 52could be uploaded into universal peripheral connector if universalperipheral connector 10 does not include the driver in its activedrivers module 40.

As is described in more detail below, mobile data device 15 furtherincludes cached client applications 54 which are used to exchange datawith the USB and other peripherals.

Universal peripheral connector 10 preferably includes a USB connector 60to connect with a USB peripheral 20. Multiple connectors 60 could existfor universal peripheral connector 10.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a VGA port 65 is also optionally a part ofuniversal peripheral connector 10. VGA port 65 is used to connect toperipherals such as a monitor 67 or a projector 69.

Other ports could also exist on universal peripheral connector 10 toaccommodate peripherals that do not use either USB or VGA ports.

Examples of universal serial bus peripherals 20 could include storagedevices 70, printers 72, external drives 74, cameras 76, or keyboards78. Other devices are contemplated to also be within the scope of thepresent application, and the application is not limited by the specifictype of peripheral used.

In operation, a universal peripheral connector 10 is connected to amobile data device 15 through USB port 30. Mobile data device driver 32is used to establish communication with mobile data device 15 and UPCUSB controls software communicates with microprocessor 34 to control aUSB host controller 36 to a control USB host controller 34. If aperipheral is connected to USB port 60, USB host controller 34 attemptsto determine the appropriate driver for the peripheral. It looks inactive driver module 40 to determine whether the active driver islocated on the universal peripheral connector. If the relevant driver isnot located within the active driver module, universal peripheralconnector 10 asks mobile data device 15 for the appropriate driver.

Mobile data device 15 then looks in its cached driver storage 52 todetermine whether the appropriate driver exists on the mobile datadevice. If the cached driver storage 52 does not contain the appropriatedriver, mobile data device 15 uses an air interface to obtain theappropriate device driver. The air interface 80 can thus be used toobtain a driver from driver repository 82 which stores drivers for theUPC operating system in its storage 84. It can also be used to obtainclient applications 86.

The appropriate driver is then sent over the air back to mobile datadevice 15 which then can send the driver to USB host controller 34.Microprocessor 36 could optionally tell the universal peripheralconnector to store the driver in its active driver storage.

Once the device is connected to the universal peripheral connector andto a peripheral, the client application 54 can be used to communicatewith the peripheral device. For example, if the mobile data device isbeing used for email and the user connects the mobile data device to aprinter to print out the email, the mail application can include a printoption. The print option could send the data to the printer through USBport 30 and USB port 60. One skilled in the art will realize thatvarious options exist for sending data to a peripheral device and thesewould be known to those skilled in the art.

In the above printing example, the mobile data device could for exampleuse TCP/IP for printing. The email program could include a localloopback interface in which the application printed to a port with theaddress 127.0.0.n where n is a number between 0 and 255. The printdriver could look to this port and send the data on this port throughthe USB connection. Other options could include, for example, FTP.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of the waythat the universal peripheral connector connects to both the mobile datadevice and to a peripheral device. If a peripheral is connected to theUPC via USB in step 201, the UPC first checks to see whether theperipheral is a mobile data device in step 203. If yes, the peripheralnext checks in step 205 whether the mobile data device supports theuniversal peripheral connector. If the peripheral device is not a mobiledevice as determined in step 203, the UPC next proceeds to step 207 inwhich it attempts to configure a mobile data device also connected tothe UPC for remote control of the UPC host controller.

From 207, the UPC proceeds to step 209 in which it checks whether themobile data device is configured for UPC control.

If in step 205 the device does not support the UPC or if in step 209 themobile data device is not configured for UPC control, the UPC proceedsto step 211 in which a user notification is generated and the processends.

If in step 205 the mobile data device does support the UPC, the UPC nextproceeds to step 213 in which it attempts to configure the mobile datadevice for remote control of the UPC host controller, similar to step207.

The UPC then proceeds from step 213 to step 215 in which a state isentered in which the mobile data device is now enabled to use a USBperipheral through the UPC.

From step 209, if the mobile data device is configured for UPC control,the UPC next proceeds to step 217 in which flow connectivity isestablished between the peripheral and the mobile device through theUPC.

The UPC next proceeds to step 219 in which it checks whether it or themobile device has the driver for the peripheral that has just beenattached. If it does not have the driver, then the driver is located instep 221 by obtaining it over the air and consulting the repository 84as illustrated in FIG. 1.

From step 221, the UPC proceeds to step 215 in which the mobile datadevice is enabled to use the peripheral via the UPC.

If in step 219 the UPC discovers that it does have the driver, then thedriver is loaded for the peripheral in step 223 and the UPC moves tostep 215.

Reference is now made to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows an alternative embodimentof a universal peripheral connector 10 which communicates through USBport 30 with a mobile data device 15 and through a USB port 60 to aperipheral device.

In the alternative embodiment of FIG. 6, a microprocessor 36communicates with a driver interface 602 which may or may not be thesame as active driver module 40.

Microprocessor 36 further communicates with other serial interfaces 604which could include the VGA interface or other interfaces know to thoseskilled in the art. A power supply 606 supplies power to UPC 10.

Microprocessor 36 further communicates with a USB master chip set 610and USB slave chip set 612. In this way, UPC 10 can either be the masteror slave for each of the USB drives. Master and slave are also referredto as host end device in this specification.

Master chip set 610 and slave chip set 612 interact with USB housinginterface 614 which could be the same as USB host controller 34 as seenin FIG. 1. [Luis, could you verify this.] USB housing interface thendrive USB interface 30 and USB interface 60. USB housing interface 614further is adapted to communicate with an internal USB peripheral 616 ifrequired.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the universalperipheral connector 10 needs to be positioned between the handhelddevice and the peripheral. This can be accomplished in several ways. Asseen in FIG. 5, USB housing, which is the universal peripheral connector10, is connected to peripheral 20 through a USB connection 60 and ahandheld device 15 is connected through a USB port 30.

Reference is now made to FIG. 4. UPC 10 can have several configurations.As seen in FIG. 4A, UPC 10 can be a sled 410. In this case, handhelddevice 15 is inserted into the sled and a connector within sled 410 isadapted to connect to the USB port of handheld device 15.

Various ports within USB sled 410 can be used to connect to peripheralsthrough a standard USB cable. Alternatively, as seen in FIG. 4B, theperipheral can fit into a cavity 415 specially adapted for thatperipheral.

As with the device in FIG. 6, a power supply 606 is provided to the sled410. This can be either an external power supply or an internal supplysuch as batteries. In a further alternative configuration as seen inFIG. 4C, a UPC 10 can be a dongle 420. Dongle 420 is adapted to connectto handheld device 15 and peripheral 20 through USB cables using ports30 and 60 as described above. The power supply in this case could be anexternal power supply or batteries within the dongle 420.

As will be appreciated by those in the art, handheld device 10 canconsist of various handheld devices, including telephones, personaldigital assistants, pagers, or other mobile data devices. The above isnot meant to be limited to any specific mobile device. Referring to FIG.3, an exemplary mobile device that can be used in accordance with thepresent apparatus and method is described.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a host mobile station includingpreferred embodiments of the techniques of the present application.Mobile station 1100 is preferably a two-way wireless communicationdevice having at least voice and data communication capabilities. Mobilestation 1100 preferably has the capability to communicate with othercomputer systems on the Internet. Depending on the exact functionalityprovided, the wireless device may be referred to as a data messagingdevice, a two-way pager, a wireless e-mail device, a cellular telephonewith data messaging capabilities, a wireless Internet appliance, or adata communication device, as examples.

Where mobile device 1100 is enabled for two-way communication, it willincorporate a communication subsystem 1111, including both a receiver1112 and a transmitter 1114, as well as associated components such asone or more, preferably embedded or internal, antenna elements 1116 and1118, local oscillators (LOs) 1113, and a processing module such as adigital signal processor (DSP) 1120. As will be apparent to thoseskilled in the field of communications, the particular design of thecommunication subsystem 1111 will be dependent upon the communicationnetwork in which the device is intended to operate. For example, mobilestation 1100 may include a communication subsystem 1111 designed tooperate within the Mobitex™ mobile communication system, the DataTAC™mobile communication system, GPRS network, UMTS network, EDGE network orCDMA network.

Network access requirements will also vary depending upon the type ofnetwork 1119. For example, in the Mobitex and DataTAC networks, mobilestation 1100 is registered on the network using a unique identificationnumber associated with each mobile station. In UMTS and GPRS networks,and in some CDMA networks, however, network access is associated with asubscriber or user of mobile station 1100. A GPRS mobile stationtherefore requires a subscriber identity module (SIM) card in order tooperate on a GPRS network, and a RUIM in order to operate on some CDMAnetworks. Without a valid SIM/RUIM card, a GPRS/UMTS/CDMA mobile stationmay not be fully functional. Local or non-network communicationfunctions, as well as legally required functions (if any). such asemergency calling, may be available, but mobile station 1100 will beunable to carry out any other functions involving communications overthe network 1100. The SIM/RUIM interface 1144 is normally similar to acard-slot into which a SIM/RUIM card can be inserted and ejected like adiskette or PCMCIA card. The SIM/RUIM card can have approximately 64K ofmemory and hold many key configuration 1151, and other information 1153such as identification, and subscriber related information.

When required network registration or activation procedures have beencompleted, mobile station 1100 may send and receive communicationsignals over the network 1119. Signals received by antenna 1116 throughcommunication network 1119 are input to receiver 1112, which may performsuch common receiver functions as signal amplification, frequency downconversion, filtering, channel selection and the like, and in theexample system shown in FIG. 3, analog to digital (A/D) conversion. A/Dconversion of a received signal allows more complex communicationfunctions such as demodulation and decoding to be performed in the DSP1120. In a similar manner, signals to be transmitted are processed,including modulation and encoding for example, by DSP 1120 and input totransmitter 1114 for digital to analog conversion, frequency upconversion, filtering, amplification and transmission over thecommunication network 1119 via antenna 1118. DSP 1120 not only processescommunication signals, but also provides for receiver and transmittercontrol. For example, the gains applied to communication signals inreceiver 1112 and transmitter 1114 may be adaptively controlled throughautomatic gain control algorithms implemented in DSP 1120.

Network 1119 may further communicate with multiple systems, including aserver 1160 and other elements (not shown). For example, network 1119may communicate with both an enterprise system and a web client systemin order to accommodate various clients with various service levels.

Mobile station 1100 preferably includes a microprocessor 1138 whichcontrols the overall operation of the device. Communication functions,including at least data and voice communications, are performed throughcommunication subsystem 1111. Microprocessor 1138 also interacts withfurther device subsystems such as the display 1122, flash memory 1124,random access memory (RAM) 1126, auxiliary input/output (I/O) subsystems1128, serial port 1130, keyboard 1132, speaker 1134, microphone 1136, ashort-range communications subsystem 1140 and any other devicesubsystems generally designated as 1142.

Some of the subsystems shown in FIG. 3 perform communication-relatedfunctions, whereas other subsystems may provide “resident” or on-devicefunctions. Notably, some subsystems, such as keyboard 1132 and display1122, for example, may be used for both communication-related functions,such as entering a text message for transmission over a communicationnetwork, and device-resident functions such as a calculator or tasklist.

Operating system software used by the microprocessor 1138 is preferablystored in a persistent store such as flash memory 1124, which mayinstead be a read-only memory (ROM) or similar storage element (notshown). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the operatingsystem, specific device applications, or parts thereof, may betemporarily loaded into a volatile memory such as RAM 1126. Receivedcommunication signals may also be stored in RAM 1126. Further, a uniqueidentifier is also preferably stored in read-only memory.

As shown, flash memory 1124 can be segregated into different areas forboth computer programs 1158 and program data storage 1150, 1152, 1154and 1156. These different storage types indicate that each program canallocate a portion of flash memory 1124 for their own data storagerequirements. Microprocessor 1138, in addition to its operating systemfunctions, preferably enables execution of software applications on themobile station. A predetermined set of applications that control basicoperations, including at least data and voice communication applicationsfor example, will normally be installed on mobile station 1100 duringmanufacturing. A preferred software application may be a personalinformation manager (PIM) application having the ability to organize andmanage data items relating to the user of the mobile station such as,but not limited to, e-mail, calendar events, voice mails, appointments,and task items. Naturally, one or more memory stores would be availableon the mobile station to facilitate storage of PIM data items. Such PIMapplication would preferably have the ability to send and receive dataitems, via the wireless network 1119. In a preferred embodiment, the PIMdata items are seamlessly integrated, synchronized and updated, via thewireless network 1119, with the mobile station user's corresponding dataitems stored or associated with a host computer system. Furtherapplications may also be loaded onto the mobile station 1100 through thenetwork 1119, an auxiliary I/O subsystem 1128, serial port 1130,short-range communications subsystem 1140 or any other suitablesubsystem 1142, and installed by a user in the RAM 1126 or preferably anon-volatile store (not shown) for execution by the microprocessor 1138.Such flexibility in application installation increases the functionalityof the device and may provide enhanced on-device functions,communication-related functions, or both. For example, securecommunication applications may enable electronic commerce functions andother such financial transactions to be performed using the mobilestation 1100. These applications will however, according to the above,in many cases need to be approved by a carrier.

In a data communication mode, a received signal such as a text messageor web page download will be processed by the communication subsystem1111 and input to the microprocessor 1138, which preferably furtherprocesses the received signal for output to the display 1122, oralternatively to an auxiliary I/O device 1128. A user of mobile station1100 may also compose data items such as email messages for example,using the keyboard 1132, which is preferably a complete alphanumerickeyboard or telephone-type keypad, in conjunction with the display 1122and possibly an auxiliary I/O device 1128. Such composed items may thenbe transmitted over a communication network through the communicationsubsystem 1111.

For voice communications, overall operation of mobile station 1100 issimilar, except that received signals would preferably be output to aspeaker 1134 and signals for transmission would be generated by amicrophone 1136. Alternative voice or audio I/O subsystems, such as avoice message recording subsystem, may also be implemented on mobilestation 1100. Although voice or audio signal output is preferablyaccomplished primarily through the speaker 1134, display 1122 may alsobe used to provide an indication of the identity of a calling party, theduration of a voice call, or other voice call related information forexample.

Serial port 1130 in FIG. 3 would normally be implemented in a personaldigital assistant (PDA)-type mobile station for which synchronizationwith a user's desktop computer (not shown) may be desirable. Such a port1130 would enable a user to set preferences through an external deviceor software application and would extend the capabilities of mobilestation 1100 by providing for information or software downloads tomobile station 1100 other than through a wireless communication network.The alternate download path may for example be used to load anencryption key onto the device through a direct and thus reliable andtrusted connection to thereby enable secure device communication.

Other communications subsystems 1140, such as a short-rangecommunications subsystem, is a further optional component which mayprovide for communication between mobile station 1100 and differentsystems or devices, which need not necessarily be similar devices. Forexample, the subsystem 1140 may include an infrared device andassociated circuits and components or a Bluetooth™ communication moduleto provide for communication with similarly enabled systems and devices.

The embodiments described herein are examples of structures, systems ormethods having elements corresponding to elements of the techniques ofthis application. This written description may enable those skilled inthe art to make and use embodiments having alternative elements thatlikewise correspond to the elements of the techniques of thisapplication. The intended scope of the techniques of this applicationthus includes other structures, systems or methods that do not differfrom the techniques of this application as described herein, and furtherincludes other structures, systems or methods with insubstantialdifferences from the techniques of this application as described herein.

1. A universal connector apparatus for a mobile device and incommunication with the mobile device, the apparatus comprising: a) atleast one universal serial bus (USB) connector providing at least oneconnection; b) at least one USB host controller configured to controlthe at least one USB connection; c) a microprocessor configured tocontrol said at least one USB host controller, the microprocessor havingan operating system; d) a USB device control interface on said mobiledevice configured to communicate and control said universal connectorapparatus; and e) a USB driver configured to operate within saidoperating system to enable said mobile device to connect to one or moreperipherals via said at least one USB connector.
 2. The universalconnector apparatus of claim 1 wherein said one or more peripherals areselected from the group consisting of printers, facsimile machines,computers, digital cameras, portable memory devices, portable musicplayers, scanners, barcode scanners, monitors, projectors, keyboards,and media writers.
 3. The universal connector apparatus of claim 1further comprising internal memory.
 4. The universal connector apparatusof claim 3 wherein said internal memory is adapted to store one or moreUSB peripheral drivers for connecting said mobile device to said one ormore peripherals.
 5. The universal connector apparatus of claim 4further comprising a computer connection, wherein said peripheraldrivers are loaded onto said connector apparatus via a computerconnection.
 6. The universal connector apparatus of claim 4 wherein saidperipheral drivers are loaded onto said connector apparatus via saidmobile device.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a remoterepository for drivers, said mobile device having means to communicatewith said remote repository over an air interface.
 8. The apparatus ofclaim 1, further comprising a video graphics array (VGA) connector toconnect the mobile device to a VGA peripheral.
 9. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the universal connector is a sled adapted to receive saidmobile device.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the universalconnector is a dongle connected to said mobile device through a USBcable.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said USB host controllerincludes a USB master chipset and a USB slave chipset.
 12. A method ofconnecting and facilitating control of a universal serial bus (USB)peripheral from a mobile device using a universal connector apparatus,the method comprising the steps of: a) detecting at the connectorapparatus the connection or presence of a USB peripheral; b) if theperipheral is the mobile device configuring the mobile device for remotecontrol of the universal connector; and c) if the peripheral device isnot the mobile device, i. configuring the mobile device if connected forremote control of the universal connector; j. locating a driver for saidperipheral; and k. driving said peripheral using said driver to providea functional feature at the mobile device.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the locating step checks an internal memory within saiduniversal connector for said driver.
 14. The method of claim 13, whereinthe locating step requests the driver from the mobile device.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the mobile device requests the driver from adrivers repository over an air interface if the driver is not stored onthe mobile device.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the locating stepuses a USB connection to a computer to load a driver onto said universalconnector.
 17. The method of claim 12 further comprising the steps of:a) connecting a video graphics adapter (VGA) peripheral to a VGA port onthe connector apparatus; b) locating a driver for the VGA peripheral;and c) driving the VGA peripheral from the mobile device.